Jesse Toler to be at this year's Sierra Hull Bluegrass Festival

Submitted By: Chris Thompson, Mayor of ByrdstownI am sure that many of you have seen the video floating around Facebook of a young gentleman aggressively riding a sporty motorcycle more commonly known as freestyle stunt riding. More importantly is that the video was filmed right here in Byrdstown, as a result of one of Jesse's main sponsors, Fitzgerald Glider Kits and more specifically Tommy Fitzgerald Jr. Tommy brought in a filming crew to do the video with Byrdstown as the backdrop. The bike's rider Jesse Toler currently holds two official Guinness world records, longest stoppie (1320.3 feet) and the fastest stoppie (150 mph). A stoppie is a motorcycle trick in which the back wheel is lifted and the bike is ridden on the front wheel by carefully applying brake pressure. I had a conversation with Robert Fitzgerald about a sponsorship for this year's Sierra Hull Bluegrass Festival set for Oct. 12. Shortly after talking to Robert I was visited by Tommy Jr. who showed me the video on Youtube. Tommy also told me about Jesse's career and Fitzgeralds’ role as a sponsor. Tommy also offered to sponsor a 20 minute exhibition by Jesse during this year’s festival to which I said sure. The video can be found on Youtube and is listed as Jesse Toler "Backroads" and currently has had more than 87,000 views so far. The video features the Town of Byrdstown, Jesse Toler, Tommy Allen Fitzgerald, Matthew Russell and his "Dukes of Hazzard" patrol car and Jackie Clark on her lawnmower. When asked about his experience while in Byrdstown making the video Jesse replied "Everyone in the city of Byrdstown helped us tremendously, could not have been happier with the amount of support everyone gave us when we were filming.” Be sure and don't miss this year's festival, it promises to be a lot of fun!